呓语 (yì yǔ) — sleep talk; words spoken during sleep; incoherent speech; nonsense; delirious talk

Definition

Literary word for sleep-talking and delirious, incoherent speech. Often used figuratively (e.g. 痴人呓语 'ravings of a fool') to dismiss an idea as nonsense.

noun
sleep talkwords spoken during sleepincoherent speechnonsensedelirious talk

Examples

  • 呓语。
    Tā zuó wǎn de yì yǔ tīng qǐ lái xiàng shì zài gēn rén chǎo jià.
    His sleep talk last night sounded like he was arguing with someone.
  • ，呓语。
    Bìng rén gāo shāo bú tuì, zuǐ lǐ quán shì yì yǔ.
    The patient's high fever wouldn't go down, and his mouth was full of delirious talk.
  • 呓语。
    Zhè xiē suǒ wèi de lǐ lùn bú guò shì chī rén yì yǔ bà liǎo.
    These so-called theories are nothing but the ravings of a fool.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

呓yìsleep talk/delirious
语yǔspeech

呓 describes sleep or delirious speech and 语 means speech, giving sleep talk or nonsense.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 呓 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 語; 语 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yán
Sound part声符shēngfú
吾
吾wú語yǔ
Same sound today

The form 語 pairs 言 (speech) with 吾, which gives the sound; this note is about 語, not 语.

Open 语 →

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